C ITING AND R EFERENCING Why, when and how?

I NTRODUCTION Unless you are a fiction writer, almost all writing is to a large degree based on other sources An important part of academic research – both during your time at Beida and afterwards – is to use the work of others to either support or challenge the idea you are arguing for or against It is fully legitimate to use other peoples’ words, or facts that you have found in other sources, in your own work. Often it is necessary to do so to make your point.

I NTRODUCTION Supporting or challenging the ideas of others is an also important part of the ongoing academic exchange and debate and it will assist in driving academic research forward However – and importantly – every time you present words or ideas developed by someone else you must acknowledge the source of the information

I NTELLECTUAL HONESTY There are several reasons why you must always acknowledge the source of your information You must acknowledge your sources so that: – readers can find the original source and make their own assessment whether or not the referenced material is supporting the claim in the way you are arguing – the authors of the original sources are given credit for their work – your own research is clear – your work has credibility

I NTELLECTUAL HONESTY In summary, the overall reason for acknowledging sources is intellectual honesty If you do not acknowledge your sources, you are in fact violating the intellectual property rights of the person who originally came up with the idea By acknowledging your sources, you can also avoid plagiarism

H OW TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SOURCE Using citations is a way to acknowledge the sources you have used in your work A citation is a reference to a published or an unpublished source, such as a book, an article, the Internet or even a picture There are many different styles for citations. It matter less which style you choose, as long as you always make citations and use your selected style consistently

W HEN SHOULD YOU PROVIDE A CITATION / REFERENCE ? You should always provide a citation/reference when you use words, ideas or facts found in: books journals Internet and all other sources

Q UOTING AND P ARAPHRASING There are two main ways of using other peoples’ ideas in your work. 1. You can either quote, which is whenever you directly copy the words of another author 2. Or paraphrase, which is when you put another authors ideas into your own words

1. Q UOTATION A quote can be a good way of providing support for your arguments If you find that someone else has made a good point, you are allowed to use their exact words, as long as you quote them correctly and acknowledge the source To show which words are not yours, you can either use quotation marks (for shorter quotes) or make an indented paragraph (for longer quotes)

E XAMPLE OF QUOTATION WITH QUOTATION MARKS Regarding the importance of the ECHR, it has been stated that “the European Convention on Human Rights has attained a leading place in the development of international human rights protection”. 1 I agree with this assessment and… __________ 1 C. Ovey, R. White, The European Convention on Human Rights, 4 th Edition (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 507.

E XAMPLE OF QUOTATION WITH INDENTED PARAGRAPH Although the positive developments, there are differing views, as expressed by this author: The unanimous, universal rejection of torture has, however, not been able to prevent this most horrifying and persistent phenomenon of State arbitrariness from experiencing a dubious renaissance in the second half of the 20 th century and the beginning of the 21 st, a period not infrequently characterized as the age of torture. 1 Now more than ten years into the 21 st century, it is my belief that… __________ 1 Nowak, Manfred, U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – CCPR Commentary, 2 nd Revised Edition (N.P. Engel Publisher, 2005), p. 158.

2. P ARAPHRASING Paraphrasing is when you put the ideas of others into your own words Sometime you may want to use ideas that are presented by others, but where a quote will not be ideal. Perhaps the ideas is presented over several pages or the exact quote doesn’t fit into your text Just as quoting, paraphrasing is allowed, as long as you do it properly and acknowledge your source

E XAMPLE OF PARAPHRASING Using the same source as above, one way of paraphrasing the section previously quoted is the following: Regarding the importance of the ECHR, it has been argued that the convention is at the forefront of the ongoing advancement of human rights. 1 I agree with this assessment and… __________ 1 C. Ovey, R. White, The European Convention on Human Rights, 4 th Edition (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 507.

W HEN AND HOW ? Always make a citation/reference when you have used someone else’s work, both when quoting and when paraphrasing, and when you make a factual statement The easiest way is to put the reference information in a footnote, but you can also use end notes If your source is a book, always include author, title, edition/volume, publisher, year of publication and page number/s

S TYLE FOR CITATIONS If your source is an article, make sure you include both the title of the individual article, and the title of the journal/book If your source is from the Internet, make sure you include the URL, and the date you last visited the Website (since the information may change over time) You can also include a reference list or bibliography at the end with all the sources you have used

S TYLE FOR CITATIONS The reason you include all this information is to make it as easy as possible for the reader to find the source

EXAMPLE OF PROPER CITATIONS If quoting/paraphrasing from a book: C. Ovey, R. White, The European Convention on Human Rights, 4th Ed. (Oxford University Press, 2006), p (Author/title/edition/volume/publisher/year of publication/page number/s)

EXAMPLE OF PROPER CITATIONS If quoting/paraphrasing from an article: O. Spiermann, ‘Humanitarian Intervention as a Necessity and the Threat or Use of Jus Cogens’, Nordic Journal of International Law 71:4 (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2002) pp. 530−534. (Author/title of article/title of journal/volume/publisher/year of publication/page number/s)

EXAMPLE OF PROPER CITATIONS If quoting/paraphrasing from an Internet source: Human rights and climate change, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, paras. 2-3,, visited on 5 December (title of article/website/URL/date visited)

SUMMARY If you provide proper citations every time you use a source – both when quoting and paraphrasing – your research will be clear and credible and you will be in a good position to avoid plagiarism Plagiarism will be discussed in the next section